Roll In with Your Homies at Rollers

Downtown’s newest sports bar airs games and tournaments in an inclusive space meant for everyone.

13 hours ago

Jamie Coelho,

Inside Rollers in downtown Providence. Photos by Maurisa Mackey, courtesy of Rollers.

Providence was in need of a sports bar for everyone. A place not only for loyal sports fans, but people who want to watch games and tournaments without the rowdiness that sometimes comes with it. Rollers Sports Bar and Grill in downtown Providence opened in mid-June, just in time for the World Cup, and now it can be headquarters for many – including men, women and families with young kids – for the fall football season, too.

Rollers is located at 33 Aborn St., where Durk’s Bar-B-Q (and before that, the Satin Doll) used to be. It’s run by Littleneck Hospitality Group, headed up by co-owners, chef Robert Andreozzi, and Jesse Hedberg, who also own Pizza Marvin and Club Frills in Providence, as well as The Hotel Viking’s new ventures, Pescadou, Skoal Room, Cap Club and Tuck Shop in Newport. The pair have also been acknowledged by the James Beard Foundation in recent years, with Andreozzi earning two James Beard Award semifinalist nominations for Best Chef: Northeast, while Hedberg was a 2026 semifinalist for Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service.

Rollers is located where Durk’s Bar-B-Q and The Satin Doll used to be.

The two have already diversified their portfolio with various business ventures from a pizza shop to a high-end restaurant, but they were looking to open something in between. ”Opening a sports bar was always something that we were thinking of,” Andreozzi says. “There’s not really one downtown, and it’s like what can we do that is a little bit more inclusive and doesn’t have to be such bro sports culture?”

The Rollers’ name reflects on Rhode Island sports history. It’s derived from two Rhode Island sports teams: the Providence Steam Roller, Rhode Island’s only National Football League (NFL) team, which existed from 1925 to 1931, and the Providence Steamrollers, a Basketball Association of America team that played from 1946-1949.

The bar at Rollers.

Inside the sports bar and restaurant are fifteen televisions nestled between design nods to pop culture. There’s playful photography of icons like Dennis Rodman in a dress and a glamour shot of Khloé Kardashian with Lamar Odom, who played basketball for the University of Rhode Island. Plus, there’s a famous photograph from when John Daly won the 1995 British Open and a serial streaker crashed the eighteenth hole, displayed in the restroom.

“Even the artwork, we want it to be the intersection of sports and pop culture,” Andreozzi says.

The team worked with designer Jeremy Ponce to bring their vision to life, and collected kitschy sports memorabilia including bobbleheads and Providence College and URI gear from POP Emporium and friends to line the shelves.

There’s a retro awning inside the restaurant marking the restroom entrance with lettering by Providence Painted Signs, plus an illuminated scoreboard and mock jumbotron hanging from the ceiling that frames four flatscreen televisions. Servers are decked out in sports jersey-style uniforms and merch comes in the form of foam fingers emblazoned with the Rollers logo. Stadium seating lines the back wall along with chainlink fencing decor straight out of your local town little league baseball field. The front bar and dining room are distinctly divided for people seeking a sitdown meal versus a drink at the bar, but there’s also a wide expanse meant for gathering over a game or even a movie showing on the dropdown big screen. During the U.S. Open, you can even play tennis on the floor.

“I think it is important that on a Saturday [afternoon] a family of six can come in here and just let their kids run around while mom and dad are watching the game,” Andreozzi says. “The bar side can be a little bit more rowdy, while this end can be more family oriented.”

Conversely, the vibe might change later on a weekend night when the deejay booth activates on the other end of the room. This Sunday night, Rollers is hosting an ’80s theme party, where guests can come decked out in tennis whites.

As expected, the menu includes wings, burgers and fries and sandwiches, many with creative combinations that aren’t your usual bar food. “The food is centered around our wood grill, so instead of doing fried wings, we do grilled wings, and we try to throw as much stuff on that grill as we possibly can,” Andreozzi says.

Notables include the Tailgate burger with coopers sharp cheese, special sauce, onions and a pickle, the Satin Dog hot dog topped with cheese, bacon, pickles and stadium sauce, and the bahn mi club layered with grilled lemongrass chicken, bacon, pickled slaw and jalapenos. There’s also a veggie Cuban with mojo mushrooms, swiss cheese, pickles and yellow mustard.

A spread of food and drinks at Rollers.

For starters, Andreozzi highly recommends the “Portuguese Spice Bag,” which includes fries, calamari, chourico and piri piri sauce and the fried chicken (or cauliflower) tendies. Even the cocktails have some fun with the theme, like the Wimbledon Cup (Pimm’s gin, cucumber, ginger, lemon), the Daryl Strawberry (rum, strawberry shrub, lime) and the Salt & Vinegar martini (which comes with a big old pile of chips).

Now that Rollers is rolling, we asked Andreozzi how he managed to open five businesses all in a matter of months, with Rollers launching just in time for the World Cup. ”We opened on time and on budget, and I think a huge part of that was that the vendors, and everyone who worked on this project had the June 12th USA game as the date in their head,” he says, “and obviously, we had to be open for the World Cup. We are very proud to be downtown.”

The Salt & Vinegar martini at Rollers.

Would he open that many businesses at the same time again? Probably not, he says with a laugh. “I couldn’t have done it without the team that we had. The mental toughness that I feel like we’ve gained in the last couple years has been incredible,” he says. “Looking back, I am surprised that we were even able to pull off things we have.”

He’s grateful to the opening team that made it all happen on time, and now he’s determined to take it from here with the team that is in place now.

“In order to pull it off, we needed people like that. We barreled through World Cup. It was amazing,” Andreozzi says. “I’m super proud of our team. We’re ready to reset and go full speed ahead.” 33 Aborn St., Providence, rollerspvd.com

Visit the Rollers Lounge over the next two weeks, Sept. 2-13, to watch the US Open on the big screens. Guests will enjoy a special lounge menu with kid-friendly food, and later at night, there will be ’80s-themed parties. Kids eat free every day 4-6:30 p.m. on days they are open.